Three ways care home marketers can thrive in the search revolution

As AI search continues to change care seeker behaviour, marketers must have a complete view of which channels contribute to enquiries and conversions.

The care homes market has always been fiercely competitive. But as consumer behaviour changes, the way marketers stay ahead of the competition must change, too.

Care seekers are doing more research before getting in touch, making the path from the first click to a move-in more complex. And it’s not just the time spent on research that’s changing; it’s also how people are doing that research.

The rise of AI-powered search, whether through AI overviews on SERPs or through answer engines like Gemini and ChatGPT, is reducing traditional web traffic.

But in this new AI-driven world of ‘zero click’ search, how can marketers be sure which channels are delivering high-intent leads? And how can they use those insights to tip the balance in their favour?

A PPC revolution is coming

As we found in the most recent edition of Mediahawk’s care homes trends report, marketers are responding to a decline in organic traffic by ramping up their PPC activities. They’re also diversifying their channel mix, by increasing investment in Bing PPC, for example.

This adaptability is great to see. Marketers will need to stay nimble as future AI developments demand more changes to ad spend strategies.

Although there are no official announcements yet from Google or OpenAI, the industry consensus is that we’re not far away from having ads in Gemini and ChatGPT. This will expand the channel mix further, making it even more essential to have a clear view of performance to make sure investments are building a strong enquiry pipeline.

It’s also likely that Google’s AI Max for Search will have a major role to play in evolving PPC strategies, as it promises to help marketers enhance campaign performance by expanding their reach into new areas of demand.

“As marketers explore a more diverse selection of channels, it will be vital to understand the quality of the enquiries they generate, not just the volume,” says Faye Thomassen, Head of Marketing for Mediahawk. “Knowing which channels – or combinations of channels – really lead to move-ins is crucial for avoiding wasted spend and building competitive advantage.”

Marketers who want to succeed in the AI-powered future of search and PPC need to start by answering three tough questions:

1: Which channels are really working for you?

Although care seeker behaviour is changing and it makes sense to focus on PPC, it’s important not to overlook other channels. Odds are, there are a few that are quietly playing a critical role in the customer journey.

Care seekers might go back and forth across multiple channels before converting, and many of those touchpoints will have contributed. If marketers only attribute conversions to the last click, they’re missing important parts of the bigger picture.

“Complete visibility of channel performance throughout the care seeker journey is essential,” says Faye. “It’s the only way to get the full picture of how channels work together to generate leads and drive conversions. And with clear performance visibility across complex customer journeys, marketers can make confident, data-driven decisions about where to focus spend.”

2: Where are you wasting ad spend?

An important part of understanding channel performance is knowing which channels generate calls – a vital source of high-intent leads for care home groups.

Knowing which channels deliver callers who convert helps marketers identify where their spend is yielding results and where it’s being wasted. For example, call tracking can reveal which PPC keywords, ads and campaigns are driving conversions.

“Directly attributing revenue to specific ads helps marketers demonstrate the value of their activities and justify their spend,” Faye explains. “And even more importantly, it allows them to continuously fine-tune their approach, replicate successes in other campaigns, and divert spend from underperforming channels.”

3: Is your analytics foundation fit for the future?

At the heart of truly effective channel performance insights is AI-driven analytics. Data-driven insights from analytics tools give marketers the confidence to act decisively to improve performance and deliver higher ROI from their ad spend.

A great example of marketing analytics in action is Barchester Healthcare, which operates more than 200 care homes across the UK. Its marketing team uses advanced analytics to understand which online channels generate enquiries that lead to move-ins. By closely analysing performance, the team can make better-informed decisions about which channels and keywords to invest in.

“As our digital marketing spend increases, it is absolutely critical to ensure we invest the budget in high-performing areas,” explains Mandy Macara, Head of Marketing at Barchester Healthcare. “Having a full picture of response has allowed us to be much smarter and confident in our actions; we have upped the ante by considerably improving our campaign effectiveness.”

Importantly, marketing analytics isn’t just about measuring performance levels; it’s also about understanding why certain ads or keywords outperform others. When marketers know why something’s working, they can use those strengths elsewhere. And when they can see why something isn’t working, they don’t have to just abandon it; they can make tweaks to optimise performance based on previous successes.

Of course, what works and what doesn’t are constantly changing alongside technological advances and shifts in consumer behaviour. So, this ability to pivot quickly, refocusing investments or optimising performance as needed, will become even more crucial as the PPC and search landscape continues to evolve.

“A solid analytics foundation is already critical for modern marketers, and it will be even more important in the AI-driven future,” says Faye. “By using analytics tools to bring together cross-channel performance insights, marketers can keep a close eye on how new AI developments impact their search and PPC results, and respond quickly to keep generating high-intent leads.”

Build competitive advantage with channel performance insights

Further advances in AI will continue to transform the search and PPC landscape, and marketers will have to adapt how they think about their channel mix and ad spend strategies. But by laying the right foundations today, data-driven marketers will prepare their care home group for sustained success.

They’ll understand the true performance of every channel, and how to improve it, so they can focus their spend where it counts, generate more high-intent enquiries, and win in a hyper-competitive market.

Discover how Mediahawk helps care home marketers succeed.